#AcademicRunPlaylist - 6/7/25

The humidity was out of control today, and while sweating through it I listened to some talks for my #AcademicRunPlaylist!

First was an interesting panel on the economic benefits of having a DPO with Ricardo Catalan, Nadia Arnaboldi, Thomas Van Gremberghe, and Gerard Buckley at Computers, Privacy and Data Protection (CPDP) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNrw3nrVq6s

Next was an informative panel on the EU's Law Enforcement Directive with Eleni Kosta, Teresa Quintel, Juraj Sajfert, and Nora Ni Loideain at CPDP https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0isYq3lGnZA

Next was a fantastic talk by Kristelia García on legal fixes to access to content issues at Yale ISP. García lays out how self-preferencing, copysquatting, and disappearing content break the fundamental social contract of copyright law - society provides creators with a limited-time monopoly in exchange for access. She then makes a compelling case for action (admittedly unlikely in the US in the near term). Highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0bZE1gAITE

Next was a great panel on advancing fundamental rights through regulatory enforcement around AI with Anne-Charlotte Recker, Julia Apostle, Karolina Iwańska, and Gregory Lewkowicz at CPDP https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q193__mfWog

Next was an amazing talk by Greg Day on accounting for the time to market correction in antitrust at Yale ISP. After reviewing antitrust enforcement thought in previous decades, Day identifies the gaping logical hole at the center of even the staunchest opponents of government action - even if market power self-corrects in the long run, to borrow a phrase from Keynes, "in the long run, we're all dead." Highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7qZl1caoEE

Next was a timely panel on the legal framework around the AI Act's regulatory sandboxes with Thiago Moraes, Alex Moltzau, Sophie Tomlinson, and Sam Jungyun Choi at CPDP https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlmdwCoFOIQ

Next was "Look Again" by Tali Sharot and Cass Sunstein. This book makes a powerful case for the dangers of individual habituation from causing people to poorly estimate risk to creating complacency in poor conditions. Sharot and Sunstein also venture into more societal issues, however, casting problems such as systemic racism in the same bucket. Apart from some questionable examples (not sure why highlighting a book where the author went around in blackface is better than one of the innumerable contemporary books identifying glaring racism), it's unclear if this habituation framing is actually helpful here. I would have liked more introspection in earlier chapters as well, with many of the pandemic habituation examples patently ignoring low income people.

All of that being said, this book does a better job than anything else I've seen at articulating the contours of the serious problem of habituation. Highly recommend https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Look-Again/Tali-Sharot/9781668008218

Last was "Vanguard" by Martha S. Jones. Jones follows the US's long and continuing journey to fairness for all through the lives of some of our most influential Black women leaders. If you've read some of Jones's other books there's some overlap here, and I personally liked the sections of this book that zoom out a bit more to provide a macro perspective on different movements that are examined here. That being said, this is an engaging read, and one that provides important context to all of American history. Highly recommend https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/martha-s-jones/vanguard/9781541618619/